Method, system, and apparatus for blackjack insurance

ABSTRACT

A system, method and apparatus for blackjack insurance may be shown. The method, system and apparatus allows players in a traditional blackjack game to buy insurance against the outcome of the dealer&#39;s cards having a value equal to 21. The bet may be placed after the dealer has been dealt the traditional two cards and revealed the top card. The bet may be placed regardless of the value of the dealer&#39;s top card.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/511,525 filed Jul. 25, 2011 and to Provisional Application No. 61/532,182 filed Sep. 8, 2011, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Blackjack is a traditional and popular card game offered by casinos. Blackjack is played between at least one player and a dealer with one or more traditional 52 card decks. The player is dealt an initial two card hand with the option of drawing cards to bring the total value to 21 or less without exceeding it. The player's hand is compared to the dealer and the higher valued hand not exceeding 21 will win.

In very limited situations the player may be offered insurance against the dealer having a card value of exactly 21. For example, if the dealer's up card is an ace; the player may be offered insurance before the dealer checks the hole card. Traditionally, insurance is only offered in the aforementioned scenario of a dealer showing an ace up card, and only insures that the dealer's initial two card value is 21. Currently, no insurance is offered for the dealer drawing to 21.

SUMMARY

According to one exemplary embodiment a system, method and apparatus for blackjack insurance may be shown. The method, system and apparatus allows players in a traditional blackjack game to buy insurance against the outcome of the dealer's cards having a value equal to 21. The bet may be placed after the dealer has been dealt the traditional two cards and revealed the top card. The bet may be placed regardless of the value of the dealer's top card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments. The following detailed description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of a blackjack card game

FIG. 2 is an exemplary embodiment of a playing area for a blackjack card game

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the following description and related figures directed to specific embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit or the scope of the claims. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention.

As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” The embodiments described herein are not limiting, but rather are exemplary only. It should be understood that the described embodiments are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Moreover, the terms “embodiments of the invention”, “embodiments” or “invention” do not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

Further, many of the embodiments described herein are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It should be recognized by those skilled in the art that the various sequence of actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) and/or by program instructions executed by at least one processor. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein can be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable storage medium such that execution of the sequence of actions enables the processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the present invention may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, the corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as, for example, “a computer configured to” perform the described action.

Generally referring to the invention disclosed herein, the system, method and apparatus may allow blackjack players to wager or bet on a specific dealer outcome. The specific dealer outcome may be that the dealer's hand (i.e. the sum of the values of the dealer's cards) will equal a value of 21. The system, method and apparatus may replace traditional insurance bets currently offered on blackjack tables. Alternatively, the system, method and apparatus may offer a side bet located adjacent a players blackjack wager circle.

As with traditional insurance, the present invention will offer insurance after all players and the dealer have been dealt two cards. After the dealer has been dealt two cards and has revealed his “up card,” the dealer may offer the players an opportunity to buy insurance against the dealer's hand having a value of 21. A player may buy insurance no matter the value of the dealers up card. The insurance bet may cover a dealer having a blackjack or a dealer drawing to 21. If, at the conclusion of the hand, the dealer's hand does not equal 21, the insurance bet may not pay. The insurance bet may either be paid or taken and may not push or tie.

The insurance bet may be taken if a player “busts” or draws cards to the point where the value of his hand exceeds 21. In other exemplary embodiments the insurance bet may be independent from the players hand and remain payable on a busted hand. If the player doubles down, the insurance bet may stay active unless the double down card busts the hand. If a player splits his hand, the insurance bet may remain active as long as at least one hand is still active. A player may not be allowed to place multiple insurance wagers after splitting an original hand.

The dealer may offer the insurance to each individual player beginning at “first base,” or the player located nearest the dealer's left hand side, and concluding at “third base” or the player located nearest the dealer's right hand side. If a player does choose to buy insurance, the player may place the wager on a line separate from the main blackjack wager circle. The insurance bet may be treated separately from the main blackjack wager and will stay up and stay in action until the dealer completes his hand.

The maximum insurance bet may be set as is well known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The dealer may pay the insurance bet after the hand is complete and has paid, taken, or pushed any live blackjack hand on the table. The payout odds may be different depending on the manner in which the dealer's hand reaches a value of 21. For example, a blackjack may pay 2 to 1 odds on the players insurance bet. In other exemplary embodiments, a dealer drawing to 21 in three cards may pay 3 to 1; a dealer drawing to 21 in 4 cards may pay 4 to 1 and so forth. Odds may be determined and bets paid for any situation in which a dealer's hand equals a value of 21.

Winning combinations and associated odds can be determined, adjusted or altered as is known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. For example, odds may be adjusted depending upon the number of 52-card decks used in the game. In addition to blackjack, the system, method and apparatus of the present invention may be utilized in any table game in which a dealer has cards. For example, the present invention may also be utilized in Three Card Poker, Let it Ride, Mississippi Stud or other games known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

The present invention is generally described with respect to a standard 52-card playing deck. The value of each card is generally known in the art. For example, each numbered card may be assigned the same value (i.e. a card showing a “2” may have a value of 2; a card showing a “3” may have a value of “3” etc.). Each face card (i.e. each Jack, Queen and King) may have a value of ten (10). Each Ace may alternatively have a value of one (1) or eleven (11) as is well known in the art. The total value of a hand may be the sum of the value of individual cards. Alternative values may be assigned to cards depending on the game played as is known in the art.

Referring generally to FIG. 1, the steps 100 of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be described. At step 102, the dealer may initially deal two cards to each player and the dealer. Alternatively, the dealer may deal any number of cards initially depending on the game played. After each player has the initial two cards, the dealer may offer each player insurance at step 104. The insurance bet at step 104, insures against the sum of the dealer's cards equaling a pre-set value, N, at the conclusion of the game. At step 106, the player may decide to buy the insurance. If the player declines the insurance bet at step 106, the game proceeds as normal to conclusion. However, if the player does want to purchase insurance, he may place the insurance bet at step 108. At step 110, the underlying card game may proceed to completion. At the conclusion of the game, the sum of all the dealer's individual cards will be determined at step 112. If the sum at step 112 is equal to the pre-set value of N, the insurance bet will be paid. If the sum at step 112 is not equal to the present value of N, the insurance bet will be taken.

Generally referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment of a playing space 200 of the present invention may be shown. Playing space 200 may have a playing surface 202. Playing surface 202 may be, for example, a table such as a standard semi-circular blackjack table as is known in the art. Alternatively, playing surface 202 may be any surface, table or area suitable for a playing card game. Dealer 204 may be on a first side of playing surface 202, with at least one player 206 on a second part of playing surface 202. Each player 206 may have a first betting area 208 and an insurance betting area 210.

The foregoing description and accompanying figures illustrate the principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. Additional variations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Therefore, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that variations to those embodiments can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims. 

1. A method of insuring a card game, comprising: dealing two playing cards to at least one player and two playing cards to a dealer from at least one deck of cards, wherein each card in the at least one deck of cards is assigned a value; revealing one of the dealer's cards; offering an insurance bet to the at least one player that at the conclusion of the game a sum of the dealer's cards will equal a specific value; accepting the insurance bet from the at least one player; completing the game according to a set of predetermined rules by optionally dealing additional cards to the at least one player and dealer; calculating a sum of the values of the dealer's cards; paying the at least one player a payout if the sum of the dealer's cards at the completion of the game equals the specific value.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific value is
 21. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the card game is blackjack.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the insurance bet is independent of any other bet the at least one player makes during the game.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the payout is different depending on a number of cards the dealer has at the completion of the game.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the payout is different depending on the number of decks of cards.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the insurance bet is not paid if at any time during the game a sum of the values of the at least one player's cards exceeds
 21. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the insurance bet is offered regardless of the dealer card that is revealed.
 9. A casino game, comprising: at least one standard deck of cards wherein each card in the at least one standard deck of cards is assigned a value; a game layout area, wherein the game layout area comprises: a standard bet area; an insurance bet area; wherein at least one player places a standard bet on said standard bet area; wherein a dealer deals two cards to the at least one player and two cards to the dealer, and the dealer reveals one card at which time the at least one player optionally places an insurance bet in the insurance bet area, the insurance bet being that at a conclusion of the game a sum of the dealer's cards will equal a specific value; wherein a conclusion of the game is reached according to a set of predetermined rules by optionally dealing additional cards to the at least one player and dealer; wherein a sum of the values of the dealer's cards is calculated at the conclusion of the game, and if the sum is equal to the specific value, the at least one player will receive a payout if the at least one player placed the insurance bet.
 10. The casino game of claim 9, wherein the value of a card corresponds to one of: a number on the card; a ten if the card is any of a jack, queen or king; and either a one or eleven if the card is an ace.
 11. The casino game of claim 9, wherein the specific value is
 21. 12. The casino game of claim 9, wherein the insurance bet is independent of any other bet the at least one player makes during the game.
 13. The casino game of claim 9, wherein the payout is different depending on a number of cards the dealer has at the conclusion of the game.
 14. The casino game of claim 9, wherein the payout is different depending on a number of decks of cards used. 